40 comments:

Although it MIGHT come as a surprise...my character is very sarcastic. There are many moments where she thinks up witty retorts to herself. I did my best to keep it going throughout the entire story, although it was very hard. Being someone with minimal sarcasm and all :D

The sound of automatic weapon fire? I'll talk to the hubby about that, he likes those kind of awful video games!

I love this post! After reading Tess Hilmo's novel (that is out on submission right now, so yay for her!), I realized that this is a great tecnique to get into a more in-depth POV. Her novel takes place in the 50's, and her accurate usues of similes and metaphors pertaining to those things in that time period was supberb. I need to figure out how to do this better. It's such a great technique!

Hi Lady G. I agree. I have a historical during WWI and I think it would come so much more alive if there was some timely slang in it (revisions needed, yeah).Thanks for popping by! It's a great technique and I should use it more too.

Hi Terri,I do think it's intentional. Possibly, overused, it could be distracting. Like most things there's a certain level of balance to create that living, breathing character without going overboard. I think Wyatt did a great job with this.

:) I think it's a great idea to uses similes and other literary devices that draw from your character's upbringing or experience like the military ones you mentioned. If you can use those devices to expose more of the "world" ur characters are in, that is a HUGE boost to the characterization. Example:My main character of my WIP is from the South, and so she compares some tears moving down her father's face to the drips of condensation moving down the outside of a glass of iced tea.

This is one of my favorite techniques. Although I don't use it myself - much, I enjoy it immensly as a reader.

The one thing I find that you have to be careful with however, is setting up your technigued sentences so that if someone doesn't know what a certain item is, the sentence will qaulify it somehow in a readers head.

Like the rucksack. In general converstaion, not everyone would know what a rucksack is. But the way she worded it with the mental image of a sack being hauled off her shoulders, leads the reader to understand without actually having to write:"As if Harker's words hauled a heavy imaginary duffle bag used for carrying military supplies...

This technique can backfire if you over-write the sent, or if you leave it without any supporting structure so the reader can't 'imagine' it right along with the writing.

This might sound weird, but I try really hard to be "in touch" with my characters. I'll think about what music they might like, what their favorite foods are, how they'd prefer to spend a Saturday night, and so on and so forth. My hope is that this seeps through into my novel in a natural way. It's hard for me to be objective, of course, but it'd probably be even stranger to say to a reader, "So which does Roy like better, cheeseburgers or lobster?"

Hi Cheryl,Thanks so much for stopping by! I'm sure you have a hectic schedule so it's such an honor that you bothered to even post a comment! :-)Yeah, we're all impressed with your super cool characterization. :-)I'm blessed to "know" all these blogger buddies. They're great, and kind, and I truly believe they'll succeed in their dreams too, because of their eagerness to learn (like you said.) (and hopefully I'm a good learner too, lol)Thanks again for stopping by!

Good question about who can relate to this author's POV. If the readers can't relate, has the author really accomplished anything with these descriptions? And by POV do you mean how the character in the story views life?

Hi Warren,POV is actually point of view. We don't necessarily have to relate as long as the pov remains true to the character. Like some people are strong-minded, so they should have willful thoughts. Others are shy, and in their pov, that should come across. And that's very, very basic. LOL POV is much more in-depth than that. If you're ever interested in writing fiction, there are all sorts of wonderful articles and books about it. It's basically staying in character while writing a character's scene. I'll stop now before I keep rambling on. LOLQuestions are great! They make me think, which is a good thing. Don't want my brain to atrophy. Heehee.

My heart is filled with romantic stories, my shelves are loaded with chocolate and I'm always longing for one more cup of Starbucks. Besides that, I write for Love Inspired Historical and am a happy mom to a bunch of little boys. I post on Wednesdays and love connecting with readers and writers.